"Mexico does not have as advanced a bureaucratic apparatus as Chile and Brazil; however, it has developed islands of high professionalism in areas such as foreign policy." This statement is presented in a study sponsored by the Andean Development Corporation, and within that framework, one of the arguments that explains such a phenomenon is related to the existence of a long-standing civil service, the Mexican Foreign Service (SEM), which operates based on principles common to such bureaucratic bodies: merit, specialization, and hierarchical structuring.
In the SEM, its members are promoted based on merit, which is evaluated, along with other factors, by a personnel commission throughout their careers. They are properly specialized, as their job stability and the permanent requirement to study (in order to advance) naturally lead them to professional concentration in the field of international relations and its various branches.
Additionally, the SEM is hierarchical, being structured in a pyramid with seven ranks ranging from Diplomatic Attaché to Ambassador, in a progression whose advancement inevitably demands, by regulation, years of dedication and recurrent evaluation.
Systemic attributes like these have been decisive not only for the SEM's continued presence within the Mexican Public Administration since 1821 but also for contributing to the management of Mexico's interests in the field of foreign policy. In this context, three areas of action are paradigmatic for documenting specific contributions of the SEM in the aforementioned field: consular protection, interaction with the United States, and the multilateral agenda.
Mexican consular diplomacy is a global benchmark for study due to its reach and effectiveness. A recent example was the repatriation of hundreds of Mexicans in risky situations during the pandemic in 2020 or during the conflict in Gaza in 2023. Other cases of effectiveness include the commutation of death sentences for Mexican nationals around the world, such as the case in Malaysia in 2012, where three compatriots were pardoned and saved from hanging.
In relations with the United States, the greatest achievement of the Mexican State lies in the autonomous exercise of its domestic and foreign policy decisions despite the challenges posed by being neighbors with the world's leading power—a success not exclusively credited to the SEM, but to which its contributions cannot be overlooked.
Consider, for example, the role played by Foreign Minister Manuel Tello and Ambassador (and engineer) David Herrera Jordán in two brilliant episodes of Mexican diplomacy: the first, in Mexico's solitary vote against the expulsion of Cuba from the OAS in 1962 (against Washington's intentions), and the second in the recovery of the territory known as El Chamizal in 1963.
BY JOSÉ OCTAVIO TRIPP
CAREER AMBASSADOR OF THE MEXICAN FOREIGN SERVICE
@OctavioTripp